The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1887-03-12

details, which are so numerous and va
riable as to confound anybody short OF
an inspired writer.
And here, perhaps, you will say: lis
not the Nun of Kenmare a good and
holy woman. and did she not have ia.
cilities for getting at the truth denied
to most modern writer's 20
1 grant this, but deny that she is
good historical writer of ancient his
tory and also deny that she is an IN
spired writer. She writes too much to
write we'll, and cannot be thorough
scholar of the ancient Ga, lie OF
Phenician and Assyrlan languages. In
fact, she undertakes too much to do it
thoroughly well.
But, to return to my subject, l felt
that must consult the Irish History OF
Keating, the great scholarly Irish his
torian. But Keating did not disap-
point me; and l will take the trouble
to write you some sketches of what
he has to say concerning st. Fat
rick, the Apostle of Scotia or Ireland.
I do this to set at rest a matter OF great
dispute and Of much interest to every
true Irishman, not only residing in the
State of Illinois, but the world over;
and, as son of one of the Kings of Ire
land, 1 think know what am talking
about, as 1 write with sincerity, with
out any base motives. as some OF the
other writer's have, including the great
and learned writer. Usher, etc.
From Alba, Mall marched with a
numerous army into Loegria, where he
made stationary encampment, and
thence he sent fleet to Armorica,
which is called Bretagne, or Brittany
(by the English), or French Britain,
for the purpose Of plundering that
country. This expedition to Almorica
was in the year 1888, according to
O'Mahoney (who corrects the Rev.
Geoffry Keating, D. d.; in his transla-
tion Keating had made the date 1856
From this expedition, two hundred
nobly- born children were brought cap
tive into Ireland, and amongst those
captiyes was St. Patrick, then sixteen
years, and his two sisters, Dareca and
Lupita, whose names are enumerated
amongst the Irish Saints. The place of
Lupita's servitude was the plain Mur-
themni, in the county Of Louth. When
brought into Ireland, St. Patrick fell to
the share of Milche, a petty chieftain
of Dal-Ar-aide, who sent him to feed
his hogs upon Sliab-Mis, now called
Slemmish, in the county of Antrim.
Here he remained in servitude for six
years, during which time, as he tells
us himself in these words: ''My con-
slant business was to feed the hogs; I
was frequent in prayer; the love and
fear of God more and more >inflamed
my heart; my faith was enlarged and
my spirit augmented; so that said a
hundred prayers by day, and almost as
many by night; I arose before day, IN
the snow, in the frost, in the rain, and
vet 1 received no damage, nor was I
affected with slothfulness; for then the
Spirit of God was warm within me-"
Whilst here he perfected himself in
the knowledge of the Gaelic tongue,
and made himself familiar with the
habits and usages of the people OF
whom he was destined to become the
Apostle, thus greatly diminishing the
difficulties of his future mission. We
are told that he escaped servitude in
the seventh year of his bondage; :;
though some say that he was then re-
leased therefrom in accordance with
a law said to have existed in Ireland,
which, like similar Mosaic one, Or
dained that slaves should be set at lib
erty in the seventh year.
Numberless authors bear testimony
that Scotia was properly one OF the
names of Ireland, and that the people
called Scott or Scots were Irish. Jo-
mas the Abbot. Bede, St. Kilian, Oro-
sius, Serarius, Capgravius. and Maria
nus Scotus all bear evidence that: eli
bernica propria Scotorum patria est"
The place of St. Patrick's nativity is
thus recorded in an ancient old book,
with the lives of other Saints: ''Pa-
tricius, Breton Latin Brito and Gaelic
Brethnach) was born in the town OF
Emptor. in the Plain of the Tabernacles.
and was sprung from devout and religi-
Gus parents, ''Patritius, Brito, natus in
oppido Emptor in campo tabernacu-
lorum ex parentibus devotis ct religio-
sis ortus." There is no room left here
to doubt that st. Patrick was native
of Armo1ica, now Brittany, Bretagne,
in France. Probus says in his life Of
tLis Saint: '.St. Patrick was a Briton,
i. g., Breton, of the village Of Bonave,
in the district of Tiburnia, adjacent to
the Western Ocean," which village we
find to have been in the province OF
Neutrio (Neustra), which the giants are
said to have formerly inhabited. The
town of EmDtOr. mentioned IN the